by Structured Settlement Watchdog

Richart Ruddie, Owings Mills native and owner of a dirty reputation management company, “butterflied and filleted” by attorney Paul Alan Levy of the Public Citizen Law Group like a Michelin 2-star chef, has settled the civil case for $71,000 and Ruddie is in the process of plea bargaining with the Rhode Island United States Attorney in the criminal investigation into his scam.

As covered in previous blogs, the search engine optimization indexing scam orchestrated by Richart Ruddie, who ran search” and “reputation management” scheme, charging tens of thousands of dollars for the service of suppressing public access to blog articles alerting consumers to problems with debt relief companies. Ruddie arranged to have defamation suits filed in various state and federal courts around the country, submitting forged consent orders signed by non-existent defendants.  One such case was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island.  After Chief Judge William E. Smith learned that he had been tricked by this fraud into signing a consent order, he granted a motion for leave to intervene filed by Myvesta Foundation, the blog host victimized by the scheme; dismissed the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction; and ordered briefing on the issue of attorney fees under Rhode Island’s anti-SLAPP law, as well as sanctions under the Court’s inherent authority.

The Structured Settlement Factoring Connection  As the result of Paul Alan Levy’s excellent legal work we had the ability to tie in Ruddie’s structured settlement side to Ruddie’s fraud. As written previously, the papers in the phony lawsuit were sent to a notary via an Annuity Sold email and the check to pay the notary signed by Richart Ruddie came from a company that Richart Ruddie and Ryan William Blank were both managing members of, a company dissolved in October 2016 as the scam began to unravel.

Read Paul Alan Levy’s excellent write up  Richart Ruddie Settles anti-SLAPP Claims, Makes Restitution; but the Guilty Companies Remain Unpunished

Settlement Agreement with Richart Ruddie and his companies

Download USCOURTS-rid-1_16-cv-00144-1 Richart Ruddie Fraud Sanctions Order Rhode Island

Apparently-fake-defendant libel lawsuit watch: Richart Ruddie & SEO Profile Defender Network LLC paying $71,000 to settle claim

Myvesta and Public Citizen Law Group Opposition to Bennett Wills Motion